President Signs Bill With Leahy’s Measure
To Delay Border-Crossing ID Requirements
Until Bush Administration Certifies
Better Coordination And Preparation

Leahy Also Beats Back Bid
To Curb First-Responder Grants
To Vermont And Other Smaller States

http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/200610/100406.html

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, Oct. 4) – President Bush Wednesday signed into law a homeland security funding bill that includes two significant policy wins for Vermont, engineered by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.).

Leahy’s legislation in the bill will buy more time to improve implementation of the controversial PASS Card system for border crossings – a system that will require new identity cards and methods for crossing U.S. borders, including the Northern Border with Canada. Leahy was joined by Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) in writing and offering the amendment, which would postpone implementation of the PASS Card system – part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI) -- for 17 months, until June 1, 2009, or earlier, if the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Secretary of State certify to Congress that several standards in the amendment are met before the program moves forward.

Leahy is a senior member of the Appropriations Committee and of its Homeland Security Subcommittee, which handled the Senate’s work in drafting the annual appropriations bill for the Department of Homeland Security. Leahy was also a leading Senate conferee on the bill.

Leahy says the lack of sufficient coordination on the PASS Card system between DHS and State, and between the Bush Administration and the Government of Canada, has spelled trouble for the system, unless its problems are corrected.

"This buys time to fix the flaws in this new ID system for our borders,” said Leahy. “Poor planning and lack of coordination by federal agencies have been spelling disaster for this plan, and a bad plan would clog our borders while making us less secure.”

The certification requirements in Leahy’s WHTI amendment will require the two departments to:

1.) Ensure that the technology for any Passport Card (PASS Card) meets certain security
            standards – and that the National Institutes of Standards and Technology certify the
            technology chosen by DHS and State.

2.) Share the technology with the governments of Canada and Mexico.

3.) Justify the fee set for the PASS Card.

4.) Develop an alternative procedure for groups of children traveling across the border under adult supervision with parental consent.

5.) Install all necessary technological infrastructure at the ports of entry to process the cards and train U.S. agents at the border crossings in all aspects of the new technology.

6.) Make the PASS Card available for international land and sea travel between the United States and Canada, Mexico, or the Caribbean and Bermuda.

7.) Establish a unified implementation date for all sea and land borders.

For More info : http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/200610/100406.html

Still no passport? How about these options?

By Kristin Jackson

Seattle Times Travel staff

Planning a last-minute getaway to Mexico or the Caribbean later this month or next? Or a flight to a Canadian ski resort ?

If so, you'd better have a passport by Jan. 23, when new rules require all air travelers — including children — returning (or arriving) in the United States to have a passport.

If you don't have a passport and don't want to get one in a hurry, here are some alternatives — given that land and sea travelers to Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico don't yet need one.

• Take a cruise that visits Mexican or Caribbean ports. Sea and land travelers won't need a passport for those destinations until 2008 at the earliest — and perhaps not until 2009.

• Instead of flying across the border into Mexico (for which you'll soon need a passport), drive or take a bus. From San Diego, head for Rosarito in Baja California; from Tucson, Ariz., drive to Puerto Penasco, also known as Rocky Point, a beach community.

Even though you may be able to drive or take a ferry or cruise ship across some borders without yet having a passport, you still must have some formal identification.

Be aware that U.S. law requires you to document both your U.S. citizenship and identity when you re-enter the United States. That means returning from a weekend trip to Vancouver, B.C., with just a driver's license technically is not enough since a license doesn't prove your citizenship.

While the best document to prove U.S. citizenship is a valid passport, there are other options. According to the State Department's Web site, other documents that establish U.S. citizenship include an expired U.S. passport; a certified copy of your birth certificate; a Certificate of Naturalization; a Certificate of Citizenship; or a Report of Birth Abroad of a U.S. citizen.

To prove your identity (if you aren't traveling with a passport), you need either a valid driver's license or government identification with a photo.

Travelers who don't have sufficient documents could have difficulty and delays in returning to the United States. They likely would need to undergo secondary screening, with citizenship being checked through databases.

Some material from the Associated Press is included in this report.